Found My Disrespect

The Storm

Guy's POV:

We stand looking into the box. "What should we do?" I ask.

Hoogie chuckles, "We should drink it."

"What about the storm?" I ask Hoogie. He pauses and then shrugs in response. I glance at him and then take a bottle out. It's a bit damp due to the ocean water that leaked through the cracks in the box. "Crown Royal?" I muse out loud. Hoogie takes a bottle out too and then screws off the lid. He clinks our glasses and downs his drink. "Woah." I said memorized.

"That impresses you?" His eyes twinkled at me. I nod in response and screw off my lid. I took a couple of sips then cough.

"That's strong." I cough again.

"Lightweight much?" Hoogie teases me.

I shrug. "This is how I am." I stare at the bottle in my hand, but I can feel his gaze on me. Then I feel his elbow nudge me hard on my bare skin. I look up at him and he smiles down at me. "Can we go find my shirt?"

Hoogie muffles a laugh and nods, "Let's go."

"What about the box?" I ask.

He gazes down at it and then returns his eyes to me. "We don't need all of it." I nod in agreement as he takes six bottles out and places them in the crook of his left arm. I take out three more.

"Should we move the box into a better place?" I ask Hoogie. He shrugs and drops his bottles into the sand. I put down mine too. We push the box into the dense vegetation away from the beach. We leave the tropical forest for our bottles. After we grab them, we venture back into the forest to find my shirt. The alcohol in my system has started its fast effect on me and my steps become sluggish. We reach the tree that we slept in yesterday and Hoogie sets his bottles down. He looks back at me and pauses.

"Are you alright?" He asks. I nod sluggishly. He stares at me for a while with his hazel eyes, apparently processing unknown information. "I'm going to take these up and then find a safe place for us."

"Okay. What about my shirt?" I slur the words and stick my tongue out because of its error. Hoogie chuckles at me and his eyes soften.

"I'll find your shirt, Guy." Then he makes a shift pocket with his shirt and puts all the whiskey bottles in it. He gives me one last smile and climbs up and away.

"Oof." I grunt at I fall to the forest floor. Then, a flash of a memory hits me.

...

It was a girl with shoulder length hair. She looks angry and is holding a knife. I call out to her, "Kate! What are you doing?" Tears were pouring down my face and I could now see the deep red slashes against her skin. "Stop this right now!" I grab her hands and look into her light blue eyes. "Why would you do this? Don't you know how much I love you? Please don't hurt yourself anymore! It's tearing me apart!" She starts to cry and we crumble down together, but as soon as we hit the floor, I cry out in pain. The knife she was holding slips into my hip and when Kate jerks back, the knife pushes in deeper.

...

I grip my hip in fear. Was that a real memory or was that the alcohol? I'm sure alcohol doesn't do that too you after a few sips, right? I hear a noise and look up at Hoogie climbing down the tree. He drops down gracefully and turns to me. The smile of triumph wipes away from his face completely and turns into pure worry. "Guy?" He rushes towards me. "Drink this." He commands and holds out a canteen.

"What's in it?" My voice cracks and I realize I've been crying. I wipe the tears away and take the canteen away from him.

"It's only water." He tells me. I screw off the lid and take a long gulp. I sigh and put the lid back on.

"I think I remembered something." I frown up at him. He grunts in response and helps me up. "I'm not completely sure though." I explain further. Hoogie listens intently as we walk around in the vegetation. He pulls me in a certain direction and we come up upon something white. "My shirt!" I exclaim. I go to pick it up, but as soon as I remove it, I find a snake. "Oh shit," is all I say as the snake moves into striking position. Then, two, strong hands pull me back just in time. "Thank you." I sigh in front of Hoogie. That was a close one. I shake out my shirt due to paranoia. Then, I slip it on, feeling relieved to not be exposed anymore.

"We need to find shelter," Hoogie says behind me. I turn around and watch his hazel eyes search the sky. Then I search with him. Dark, ominous clouds look back at us threateningly from the sky. I look away from the angry sky to find Hoogie studying me. "Come on." He takes my hand and runs. I stumble after him and lush, green trees and plants rush past me. We stop at an almost completely uprooted tree. "This isn't the best place," he glances at me for approval. I nod with a smile.

"It's better than nothing!" I cheerfully say. He nods, happy with my answer. We slide under the roots of the tree as the wind picks up. I shiver and rub my arms, happy that I now have my white shirt covering them. Hoogie glances over at me with concern. "I'm fine!" I say and scoot closer to him. He raises an eyebrow at me. "It's cold!" I defend myself and felt my cheeks grow warm. I fold my arms and look away from him into the wildly, thrashing bushes, trees, and other plants.

Hoogie puts his arm around me and I look up at him expecting an explanation. "For body heat," he hums. I nod vaguely. "What did you remember?" He asks silently.

"Oh. I forgot about that," I say. I hesitate, knowing I do not want to explain that right now. I look up into his expecting gaze and blurt out every detail about the memory.

"Kate, huh?" He muses to himself. "Can I see your tattoo again?" I nod and reach to lift my shirt, but Hoogie beats me to it. He raises the stiff cotton and examines my tattoo once again. "There," he prods. "That's where her name is." He explains. I give him a look of worry and notice that he points at the last cart of the train.

...

The rain starts to pour quickly and hard. Soon, I am half soaked due to the wind blowing it at an angle, and let's a few drops land on me. I sigh and narrow my eyes at the incoming rain. I glance at Hoogie and realize he's out cold, so I join him. After a few minutes of squirming to become comfortable, I drift off to sleep beside him.